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Anatolian Traders

In 200 AD, Anatolia now known as Turkey, lived a tribe of merchants who travelled all around the know word conducting trade. They travelled from Anatolia to Rome, Greece, France, Spain and all the way to the costs of Portugal in the west. They also travelled along the Silky road through Persia, Mesopotamia, parts of India all the way to the eastern coasts of China.

Anatolian traders were educated from very early age by their mothers at home while the men travelled the world trading goods. They were honorable, honest and men of their words. The young among them were great fighters, so pirates and robbers did not dare to mess with them easily. As a result, over generations they became very wealthy and politically powerful. This was slowly making them proud and a little arrogant as time passed by.

The leader of the Anatolian traders was a man named Azhar who was respected among all. One day Azhar saw a very strange dream in which a very old blind man came to him. The old man said

God is very pleased with you and your people, so God wants to give you 3 rewards. You on behalf of your tribe can ask for everything except immortality and omnipotence. What do you want as your rewards?

Azhar was very pleased to know that and said,

Thank you for bringing me such delightful news, but I am confused about what will be the best reward for my tribe.

Azhar suddenly heard someone calling him from outside and woke up from his sleep.

At first he ignored the dream, but he repeatedly saw the dream again and again. So he called upon his fellow men and told them about the dream. All other men of his tribe saw a similar dream in which they saw the old man coming to Azhar talking to him for a long period of time. This made Azhar believe that the man in the dream might be sent from God and may have been an angle.

So he consulted with his men about what he should ask from God. Some men asked for wealth; others wanted wisdom & knowledge; some wanted military power, another group wanted political power. But Azhar said,

Wealth can be earned by hard work and trade;Wisdom can be earned by studying and experience; Military power can be gained by employing militants; And political power can be achieved through diplomacy. Besides that we already have plenty of those things and if we need more we can achieve it. So let us ask for something miraculous which cannot be achieved by any mortal men or women. The miracle will also prove that God is really pleased with us.

His men agreed with him, but wondered what can they ask for?

They discussed this issue for a long time and came to a decision. They decided that they will ask for the ability to predict the future, they will also ask for youth till death and they will ask for the ability to learn any language very quickly which will help them trade. But a sense of arrogance cropped up in their mind. They said we are world renowned traders. We will not just take these things from God we will trade something for these things. Azhar said God has everything; we have nothing that is valuable enough to make a trade with God. But the men insisted that they should trade. After a wild debate they decided that they will trade the sight of one of the eye of each man for those rewards. Though Azhar was not very happy with the notion he agreed with his men at the end.

Soon in one night the old man came to Azhar's dreams again. He asked the same question. This time Azhar replied,

We want to trade the sight of one of the eye of each men in return we want ability to predict the future, youth till death and ability to learn any language very quickly which will help them trade.

The old man said,

Do you think it is wise that when God is giving you rewards you are asking for a trade?

But Azhar proudly replied,

I and my men are best traders of the world. We do not need pity of God. So we want to trade.

The old man replied angrily said,

God do not need to trade with you. God can give or take anything anytime. Even after giving these rewards if God wants these can be useless to you if God wishes it. Just take the rewards and be thankful.

Azhar boastfully said,

We have set the conditions of the trade therefore even God cannot make them useless unless he breaks the promises of the trade. I believe God never breaks promises, so I am determined to trade.

The old man said,

Indeed Almighty God never breaks promises and he is the wisest of all. So you are sure about it?

Azhar replied,

Yes, I and all my men willingly agree.

Seeing Azhar adamant in his decision the old man said,

So it shall be a trade as you wish.

And then the old man left.

Azhar woke up in the morning and saw all the men of the tribe lost one of their eyes. The men were now sure about the miracle and were eager to test their new abilities. They tried to predict their future and miraculously they could predict many things. They could predict profits and losses. They predicted the weather, they predicted the best paths to reach their destinations but they also predicted major losses and their own deaths. Soon they become depressed about the losses and deaths. They were unable to be happy about the profits and the delightful moments to come they could only focus on losses and especially deaths. They all knew death is inevitable, but now they knew when and how they were going to die. This took away all their happiness and smiles.

The old men of the tribe regained their youth. This made them bold and brave but at the same time they became careless and crazy. Again since none of the men seemed to care about their death as they knew when and how death is coming they become even more negligent about their responsibilities, duties and trade. They engaged in ciaos which reduced their life span. They predicted that too but did not care enough to change their behavior.

Again they were able to pick up any language within a few conversations. So they were able to communicate with everyone. But due to their dam-care attitude they offended everyone instantly which made it difficult to trade. The one missing eye made them look weird which did not helped in the trade either. So they started to lose wealth, reputation and power.

Soon Azhar and the other men realized that they have made a mistake. Their trade was not the best trade. They realized that they had everything but now they are losing it due to arrogance. Azhar prayed to God regularly and asked for forgiveness.

Many days passed by. One day Azhar woke up and saw that he has got back his both eyes. He went outside and all his men were back to normal. He asked his men what happened but none could tell anything about the dreams, the old man offering blessings from God and them arrogantly offering trade. None of this has happened it was all a dream. Azhar told his men the story of his dreams and asked his men to not to be arrogant. Most of his people took the advice and tried their best to avoid arrogant behavior as a result they prospered in future.

Coincidentally the decedents of these Anatolian traders were very good at strategies; they enjoyed good health throughout their lives and were very good at foreign languages. Maybe it was because they have travelled a lot, had good diet & exercise; or maybe it is a blessing. Again some of them had poor eyesight, carefree attitude and very short life span. Maybe it was exposure to long hours of direct sunlight and diseases during travels; or maybe it is the cursed trade they made.

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